Happy birthday Saina Nehwal: The ace badminton player is one of the most charitable athletes

Saina Nehwal turns a year older!

Birthday girl Saina Nehwal is a big name in sports. The badminton champ is currently ranked 9 and was once the top seed in the sport. She’s also got a collection of 24 trophies to her name. However, all those stats are what you’d usually find on her Wikipedia page. Here’s something you probably didn’t know about the newly turned 29-year-old. Saina is among those athletes who don’t mind when it comes to helping out the less fortunate, or even the armed forces.

There are multiple reports of Saina’s donations. A 2017 report on theweek.in says that the shuttler donated Rs 6 lakh to the families of 12 Central Reserve Police Force jawans who were killed in an encounter. That translates to Rs 50,000 per family. Back in 2015, Saina teamed up with the Charities Aid Foundation India, which is an NGO, to support flood victims in Tamil Nadu. On that occasion, Saina reportedly donated Rs 2 lakh.

A report on Sportskeeda highlights that Saina is very spontaneous when it comes to donations. A French reporter starting up a charity called Solibad had once approached her for a donation. Sania reportedly said: “If it’s a charity, no problem. I’ll do whatever is required.” Unlike Saina, a lot of sportspersons get into charities after they make sure they get a business deal cut out of it. Saina’s donations don’t end there. She also contributed to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for the rehabilitation of flood victims in Assam in 2015.

Renowned charity portal dosomething.org made a list of some of the most charitable persons in the world of sports. The list was inspired by the annual Celebs Gone Good list, and dosomething.org decided to announce a similar list. In 2015, Saina popped up on the list at number eighteen. The list was topped by Cristiano Ronaldo, who was followed by John Cena.

As Saina turns 29, we hope she continues the good work and finds success in her career. On a side note, the shuttler was recently diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis, forcing her to bow out of the Swiss Open. We hope she recovers soon and wish her a happy birthday.